


A Bad Influence

by grappel



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Graphic depiction of being tattooed, I'm gonna add hella tags as it goes, Piercings, Pre-Relationship, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 11:32:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16575641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grappel/pseuds/grappel
Summary: Sebastian was tired of still feeling like a teenager. He was 22, stuck in his parents basement, and convinced his life was wasting away in the quiet valley town. Silas is 28, she's lived in the city, and very possibly exactly what he's looking for to break up the monotony of this boring country life until he can make it to the city himself and finally live the life he's always wanted. She's the best rebellion he's had, but like all good rebellions, the upheaval of the norm it causes isn't always easy.EDIT: this is a hot mess right now, some cleaning up will happen eventually





	A Bad Influence

      Sebastian stretched his back over his computer chair, yawning deeply and checking the time on his computer. 7:30 am. Damn. He had originally planned to go to sleep after he had finally finished his latest project, but had gotten sucked into a deep dive in stack overflow and the beginnings of setting up an email server and spent much longer on that particular train of thought than he thought he had. It was hard to tell when his room didn't have any windows, and after spending over a full day or two inside it got hard to tell when day and night transitioned.

 

     He rubbed his eyes and stood up, might as well go get some coffee and a smoke to start the day, or end it. He hadn't decided yet. As he trudged up the stairs into the main part of the house, Maru happened to catch him and laughed.

 

"And so the cave troll emerges! I thought he was merely a myth," she smiled warmly, oblivious to how much that stung. "Good morning Sebastian, how'd you sleep?"

 

He yawned again in response and she rolled her eyes, following him into the kitchen.

 

"Oh, by the way, Dad wanted you to run down to the farm to pick up something from Silas, as well as eggs."

 

"Ugh, why can't Demetrius go get his own eggs?" He grumbled, but picked a travel mug from the cabinet for his coffee.

 

Maru shrugged, "I think he just likes to see you leave the house and talk to people."

 

     Sebastian poured just a little bit of milk in his coffee, no sugar, and capped it. Normally he'd put up more of a fight, but when he and Demetrius fought, Demetrius and his mom fought, and his mom didn't deserve that first thing in the morning. He also thought he didn't deserve to be sent down the mountain this early in the morning either, but it would do him good to get reoriented with his circadian rhythm, not to mention it had been awhile since he had seen Silas.

 

"Alright fine, let him know I'll be back in a little bit then."

 

"Okay, thanks Sebastian!"

 

 

He took his time on his way down to Silas' farm, and after two cigarettes and an empty mug of coffee he was atleast beginning to feel like a person again. When he got to the humble farmhouse there was a small note on the door,

 

"Sebastian,

 

I'm in the cave, I just set up a bat habitat I think you'll really like it. You should come see.

 

Silas."

 

And at the bottom was a little doodle of a man with his hair covering an eye and frowning, and a bat. It made him smile, and after folding it carefully, he put it in his pocket.

 

"Hello? Silas?" He called outside the mouth of the shallow cave and was surprised to see a flashlight immediately click on.

 

"Were you just sitting in there in the dark?"

 

Silas emerged from cave, pushing her silvery hair out of her face. She and Sebastian had a similar complexion, save for the light splattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. Her hair was dyed a silvery white, but her showing roots exposed the natural black color of her hair. It held a curl and was so big that even when pulled it back into a ponytail it was hard to tell that anything had changed. She gave him a small wave and wordlessly handed over the flashlight.

 

"I wanted to see if I could hear them move around in there if it was quiet and dark, but no such luck."

 

He followed her back into the alcove, pointing it upwards. Sure enough, all along the roof were wooden beams with what looked almost like flat bird houses hanging off of them.

 

"This is because bats are good pollinators, right?" He asked, pointing the flashlight at Silas and causing her to cringe before slapping his hand down.

 

"Right, also they eat mosquitoes."

 

"They're my best friends, then." He deadpanned, following her back out of the cave.

 

While they walked back to her house, he let out another particularly deep yawn. "Do you have any coffee? I drained mine on the walk down, but I still feel like a zombie."

 

"Of course, I'm impressed you made it this early though, I wasn't expecting you for another hour or so."

 

Silas let him into her house, it was small, but comfortable. On the kitchen table was a reusable egg crate and a jar that was painted black with a mystery liquid inside.

 

"Yeah, I accidentally stayed up all night last night, I still haven't decided if I'm just going to go get some sleep after I get back home…"

 

Silas handed him his coffee, with a little bit of milk, and sat down next to him at the table.

 

"Why still deciding?" She asked, holding her mug with both hands as if she were cold, even though he thought it was rather warm outside. He shrugged in response, turning the black jar and examining it.

 

"I don't know. It just gets loud at my house during the day time, between some of Demetrius' machinery and Mom's power tools, not to mention the look they give me when they realized I slept during the day."

 

"Well, why don't you come back here and nap? That way your parents think you're being productive, or social, or something." she paused and walked to her room, opening the door and showing off just how dark it was, "I have light blocking curtains." she taunted in a sing song voice, as if she was trying to sell him on a nap.

 

His first instinct was to say no, but his heavy eyelids were convincing him otherwise.

 

"That… that actually sounds really nice, but I don't want to impose. I just don't know if I want to make that walk twice today..."

 

"Want to take one of my horses?" she offered, which Sebastian thought was a joke at first, but when he realized that she was serious he raised his eyebrows.

 

"No, no I really don't."

 

Silas stood back up to refill both their mugs, "Okay, but my room's open to you anytime if you change your mind, you're never imposing."

 

"Thanks Silas, I appreciate it." She handed back his travel mug, freshly full, and put the egg crate and jar in a paper bag with 'Jarfly Farm' printed on it for him.

 

"I'll text you if I decide to come back."

 

 

     Instead of putting his earbuds in immediately after starting his walk back home, Sebastian found himself lost in thought. Somewhere along the line Silas had become a good friend, and he hadn't expected that to sneak up on him. It had only been Sam and Abigail for so long he wasn't quite sure how to feel about that. She was also older, he considered, whereas the three of them were all 22, she was 28. Logically, that wasn't a huge age difference, but the fact that she was closer to 30 than being a teenager made it feel like maybe it was? She didn't act like she was close to 30 though, but then again, he wasn't exactly sure what a 30 year old was supposed to act like. He lit up another cigarette, hating the fact that his exposure to other people was so small that someone a few years older than his little circle felt off-limits in some way. As he watched the smoke swirl up into the air he considered what kind of friends he might have if he were living in the city right now.

 

     By the time he made it back home he had already decided that he would head back to take her up on her offer, but when he walked into the kitchen and handed Demetrius the black jar, he said he wanted to get it into the centrifuge as soon as possible, and that made Sebastian only doubly sure. He found his old bookbag and unceremoniously stuffed in his laptop, its charger, and a pair of headphones. When he started back up the stairs, two at a time, he heard the deafening noise of the centrifuge start up.

 

He stopped in the entrance of the lab and waved to get Demetrius' attention, once he did he said into the noise "I'm going back to Silas', cool?"

 

"What?" Demetrius yelled, cupping a hand over his ear.

 

"Okay cool, see you later!" Sebastian replied, waving goodbye and heading out.

 

The second walk to the farm was far more uncomfortable, the steadily rising sun managing to break through the canopy of the forest, and he was eager to be inside a cool, dark room again soon. He pulled out his phone and shot Silas a text:  
**Hey, can I bump the AC down to like… 33?  
** 

Surprisingly fast, Silas replied:

 

**You're funny. It's at 68.**

**You're my new best friend**

**I bet you'd say that to anyone who offered you a quiet, dark place.**

 

     He thought of Silas on her phone in the middle of her field, pulling her gloves off to respond, she probably had the sleeves of her flannel pushed up to her elbows and the whole shirt unbuttoned in this heat. He loved it when she wore it like that, especially since underneath she usually wore a tight tank top that, for an undershirt, did a really bad job at modesty. He pushed his hair back, shoving his phone in his pocket. That thought was officially done, he decided, while uncomfortably clearing his throat.

 

     Or so he thought. When he got back to the farm she was indeed in her fields, with her back to him. The first thing he noticed was that her hair was pulled back into a giant pony tail, and despite being tied up still reached under her shoulder blades. The second thing he noticed was how well her jeans fit, which he had noticed before but something about today's train of thought insisted that he especially pay attention to it today.

 

"Hey, Silas!" He called to her, causing her to turn and wave. Unlike the mental image he had of her, she was still wearing her work gloves, but she did have her shirt sleeves rolled up and unbuttoned. He had a small, mental celebration.

 

"Hey Sebastian, the door is unlocked, it should be pretty cool in there, just shoot me a text if you need anything, okay?"

 

He pulled out his phone and sent her a text, then watched her until she got it.

 

**Will do :)  you're the best**

 

He saw her smile down at her phone just like he imagined she would. He got a message back.

 

**I know**

 

     Silas' bedroom was indeed dark and cool, and he felt sleep pull at him again almost as soon as he closed the door behind him. He plugged in his laptop and headphones, setting it up on one side of the bed. The bed wasn't made, and he was secretly glad that a 'real adult' also didn't make her bed in the mornings like his mom tried to convince him they all did. He took off his hoodie and put it back in his bag, and briefly debated whether or not it would be more appropriate to sleep in his jeans. On one hand, taking his pants off in Silas' house felt incredibly wrong, on the other sleeping in pants felt _even more_ wrong. He eventually decided that Silas probably wouldn't care, so he shoved his black jeans into his bag as well. Sliding into bed felt heavenly. She had a really nice mattress, he realized as he got settled. Like, a _really_ nice mattress…

 

He was out before he had a chance to turn on the video he had planned to watch before bed.

 

 

     When he started to come to he was incredibly cold, only to realize he had completely kicked the blankets off of himself. After pulling them back up around his shoulders he grabbed another pillow and nuzzled his face into it. It smelled like Silas' hair, and for the first time he felt like he was treading into waters that were way too personal. Regardless, he kept it held to his face. Reaching out and tapping the touchpad on his laptop to wake it up he found he had slept for about 6 hours. It was a little after 6 p.m. He pushed his pointer to his browser and put his headphones back in. He didn't want to go back to sleep, necessarily, but he wasn't exactly eager to get out of bed just yet either. Scrolling over his bookmarks, looking for that nature documentary he was planning on watching, he passed one labeled "Productivity and Finances" and felt his 'morning' excitement throb in recognition.

 

     He hovered over it for a minute, if he were at home it wouldn't even be a question, but this was neither his home nor his bed. That thought seemed to do the opposite of what he intended, however, and he groaned in frustration into Silas' pillow, which didn't help either.

 

     Decisively, and a little too roughly, he closed his laptop and took a couple calming breaths. He rolled over and rummaged in the blankets for his phone. Once he found it he saw he had a missed text from Sam,

 

**Hey dude, where'd you go?**

**In a lady's bed, wbu?**

 

He smirked to himself and hoped that Silas would find this just as funny as he did. Then he flipped over to the message he had gotten from Silas earlier in the day, and hit reply on that one too,

 

**Your bed is magic. I live here now. You can have my room at my parent's.**

 

     Before he had time to untangle himself from the mess of pillows and blankets he heard footsteps coming towards the room, damn, had she been in the house this whole time? Now he was really glad he had decided not to "review his finances." There was a soft knock on the door, and he managed to murmur a "Come in," through his hoarse voice.

 

Silas laughed as soon as she laid eyes on him sitting up, "Hey there, bed head."

 

     He moved to fix his hair as much as possible, but with the amount of product in his hair that he had just ruined he knew there was no hope. He gave up and set his hands in his lap, squinting at her silhouetted form by bright light that was coming in through the hallway, "Mornin'" he responded, watching her carefully as she walked inside and sat on his side of the bed.

 

"Morning. How'd you sleep?"

 

"Really well, actually, this mattress is fucking awesome."

 

Silas laughed, and Sebastian liked the way it made her brown eyes pinch a little.

 

"I think this is actually the first time a man has woken up in my bed and I wasn't there, too." She said, motioning to the spot taken up by his laptop. Sebastian turned his head, hoping she wouldn't see the way his cheeks had warmed at that comment.

 

"I don't know what you're talking about, you're right here." He said, jokingly, wishing that his quickening pulse would just cut it out already.

 

     Silas chuckled again and he felt the bed move when she got up, "Come on, I'm making dinner, you want any?"

He nodded and moved to push the blankets aside, but remembered he wasn't wearing pants. He stopped halfway and looked at her, and when she didn't get the hint he nodded at the door.

 

"Oh, sorry!" Silas said, and went over to the door, only to close herself in the room with him.

 

"That better?" She teased with a smile, but before he could even try to think of a reply she had opened the door again and was leaving. "Just kidding! Come out when you're ready, okay?"

 

After he put his clothes back on and packed up his laptop in his bag, he re-emerged into the living room. He was greeted with the sound of boiling water and a delicious smell.

 

"I'm making dinner, would you like to stay?" She offered, glancing over her shoulder. She had shed the flannel shirt altogether now, must've done that on her way back into the kitchen, and was in just her string-strapped tank top and her perfect jeans, the way she looked back at him made him again feel as if he was intruding on something personal. His mouth went dry.

 

"Uhm, what are you making?" He asked, feeling very brave for dropping his bag on the kitchen table and walking into the little kitchen.

 

"Pasta and an alfredo sauce, nothing fancy, but I'm using cream from my farm and that feels pretty special."

 

"Oh yeah?" He asked, leaning against the counter, hoping and praying that he looked atleast a little casual.

 

"Everything in the city was so… over processed, and I wasn't really able to tell the difference until I moved out here. I know that probably makes me sound like a hipster though, huh?" She laughed at herself and began to prepare plates for them.

 

"You _are_ a hipster, so it's fine, stay true to yourself Silas." Sebastian joked, but he wasn't able to make eye contact with her when she set their plates at the table and motioned for him to sit with her. She pushed her pasta around for a minute before glancing up at him, "Hey, all joking aside, thanks for coming over today. Even if you were asleep the whole time, it was nice knowing I wasn't out here in the middle of nowhere by myself."

 

Sebastian scoffed, "Are you kidding me? You're living the dream. Like I said, we'll just trade homes. I think we'll both be much happier if company is what you're looking for…" He didn't want his home-life related bitterness to bleed into tonight, though, so he took a bite and quickly changed the subject.

 

"Yeah, okay, that is really good."

 

"Right?"

 

 

       After dinner Sebastian insisted on doing the dishes while Silas lingered in the kitchen, sitting on the counter. Another thing that his mom had gotten on to him for doing in the past.

 

"You know, this is the first time you've really been over for a significant amount of time, I promise I didn't invite you to do chores." Sebastian tensed up slightly when he was reminded of what almost felt like intimacy of the situation. He had enjoyed today, sure, but she was right when this had been the first time he had been over for longer than just a cup of coffee or a movie watching party with Sam and Abigail.

 

"You going to be able to sleep tonight?" Silas asked, passing him a hand towel when he was finished so he could dry himself off. He pushed his hoodie sleeves down, frowning at the way they had stretched out around the wrists, then shook his head.

 

"Probably not, but it'll be okay, I'll find something to do." He rummaged around his pockets until he found his smokes, then held the pack up in offering to Silas.

 

"Ugh… Okay, but just one!" She insisted, then followed him to the front porch.

 

      They both lit up and stared out over the small fields of crops together before Silas spoke up, "You know, I had almost completely given up the habit until I started hanging out with you."

 

Sebastian gave her a disappointed look, "Really? Sorry to be such a bad influence." Silas only shrugged and took another drag though, leaning over and resting her elbows on the railing of the porch. Sebastian pretended to be very interested in his own cigarette suddenly, really wishing she hadn't done that. Her pose reminded him he had texted Sam and pulled his phone back out, seeing the notification light going crazy.

He held his almost finished cigarette in his lips while he unlocked his phone and read Sam's reply

 

**Oh haha very funny, no really, where are you?**

 

**Sebastian?**

 

**Holy shit are you really getting laid rn??**

 

**I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WERE PLANNING ON LOSING YOUR VIRGINITY AND DIDN'T TELL ME!**

 

     These were followed up with a bunch of broken hearts and crying emojis. He chuckled to himself, and when Silas leaned over to peek he passed her his phone. Her eyes scanned the screen quickly with a smile, and she laughed as well before passing the phone back. She opened her mouth to say something, then knit her brow and turned away to rub out the end of her cigarette instead.

 

"What?"

 

"Huh?"

 

"You were going to say something, what was it?"

 

"I… nothing Sebastian, don't worry about it."

 

She started to walk back inside, so he quickly dropped his own and rubbed it out on the porch under his shoe before following her back.

 

"No, that's gonna kill me! What is it?"

 

     Silas leaned against the back of her old couch and crossed her arms, Sebastian only very briefly glanced at how that changed her cleavage.

 

"You're a virgin? Not that it matters or anything, I just- I don't know, wasn't expecting that I guess."

 

      He felt a very unmistakable blush burn the back of his ears. Oh. He didn't even think about that part when he had showed her his phone. He wasn't sure whether to be more embarrassed or flattered though. He thought that all he had to worry about was her being upset about the joke about her bed, but now he got to have _this_ talk with someone he would really rather not have this talk with. He shrugged, trying to look nonchalant about it.

 

"I mean, not completely, but, technically yeah? The joys of living in a small town." He explained, looking everywhere but at her, his stomach did flips, and was that a knot in his throat? He was sure his ribcage would just vibrate into pieces if his heart kept doing whatever it was it was doing right now.

 

"There's nothing wrong with that, look, even when I lived in a big city and anonymous sex was an option, it was never an appealing one. Not worth it. You should be glad you haven't had to deal with the bullshit that usually comes along with it so far, even the kind in a committed relationship can just be… a mess sometimes."

 

He didn't want to think about her having bad sex with some guy from the city, and despite his anxiety rattling his entire body, there was one thing he wouldn't to ask.

 

"What do you mean you weren't expecting that?"

 

     When Silas blushed it was such a vibrant red he was almost worried about her. She laughed, obviously embarrassed as well now, "I don't know man, just, you know. You're _you_. Mr. dark and mysterious, 'I drive a motorcycle', and have great hair? Again, I don't know, maybe I'm just projecting." She hugged her arms tighter around herself and shook her head. "I sound like an idiot, just forget I said anything, okay?"

 

     Sebastian was suddenly regretting staying so late, eating, hell even coming over at all and every part of him was telling him to escape the situation. It was killing him, talking about his fucking sex appeal with Silas was something that on any other occasion he would say was too good to be true, but right now his throat was so tight it hurt to breathe and all he could think about was how bad he wanted to go home. He picked up his bag and shrugged again, hoping he looked disinterested despite his quivering grip as he slung it over his shoulder.

 

"Yeah, like you said though, no big deal. Anyway, I'll see you later, okay?"

 

Silas looked concerned about his sudden shift and stood up to go open the door for him, but he beat her to it.

 

"Yeah, see you, Sebastian. Text me when you get home safe?"

 

"Mhmm" He responded, amazed he was able to choke even that noise out, and quickly closed the door behind him and paced to the path back home as fast as he could without breaking into a jog.

 

     Once he was in the relative safety of the forest path back up the mountain he immediately lit up another cigarette, keeping it in one unsteady hand and using the other to hold his phone as a flashlight, but the severity with which it was shaking made it almost useless. He'd never finished a cigarette so fast in his life, he noted, and took a deep breath that ended in a coughing fit. His heart had slowed, at least, but was still pumping so hard he was almost concerned for his health.

 

     Now that the worst of the attack had passed, though, his thoughts turned to just how bad he had fucked that up. That could've been an awesome conversation, he thought, she called you "dark and mysterious!" He groaned, hating how his anxiety always seemed to ruin everything good in his life. He stopped in the middle of the trail, rubbing his face with both hands. He had been admiring her all day, and he hadn't been brave enough to hang out just when things had gone in literally the best possible direction it could have. The image of her leaning against her couch with her arms crossed flicked through his mind, taunting him.

 

     When he saw the light of home through the tree line he pulled his phone out, suddenly the idea of being holed up in his room seeming like the least appealing thing in the world. He found Sam's contact immediately, it was at the top of nearly every list, and hit call.

 

"Hey man, can I come over?"

 

"Hell yeah you can!" Came an overzealous voice on the other line, than the distant snap of his mom chastising him for his language, "Yeah, I'll meet you halfway? What happened? Was it great? Or were just fucking with me?" The next yell sounded much fiercer.

 

"Sorry mom! I'm gonna go get Sebastian, I'll be right back!" Almost immediately after he heard Sam slam the front door to his house closed, and the call clicked as he hung up.

 

    Sebastian dipped into the house, making a beeline for the basement and depositing his bag by his desk before leaving again, grateful that no one seemed to notice him. Sam had met him well before he got back to the town square, he must've run most of the way. Sam grasped him by both shoulders, a giant smile on his dumb, rosy face.

 

"So are congratulations in order?"

 

Sebastian just shook his head, hating how contagious Sam's smile was.

 

"Aww! I knew you were just fucking with me!"

**Author's Note:**

> I'm writing this as someone who's at the opposite end of this age difference, just for some background. I'm 22, and my bf is 30, it's a lot of fun to look at it from the other side.


End file.
